ROY BARAK UN DES CINQ ISRAELIENS
ENCORE DES INDICES SUR LES CINQ
The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
SECTION: News; Pg. 15A
LENGTH: 1512 words
HEADLINE: Israelis trapped in terror roundups cause worry at home, anger at U.S.
BYLINE: JIM GALLOWAY
SOURCE: AJC
BODY:
Nazareth, Israel --- On the day after the world changed, Roy Barak and his partner were in an empty rental truck, eastbound on I-80 in northern Pennsylvania. The men were movers, near the end of a 16-hour deadhead run from Chicago to a chaotic New York.
Over the truck radio, the 23-year-old Israeli Jew listened to the confusion that billowed from the rubble of the fallen World Trade Center towers. He heard the news reports that five suspected terrorists had been picked up in a white van headed for the city via the George Washington Bridge.
Angry witnesses had seen the five at a waterfront park in New Jersey apparently laughing, clowning and photographing themselves in front of the burning towers. Barak had no way of knowing the arrested men were his friends, Israelis working for the same moving company. But he found out quickly.
At noon Sept. 12, Barak and his partner, 25-year-old Motti Butbul, were blue-lighted by a patrol car and pulled into a rest stop. The formal charges were minor: a broken turn signal, a missing fire extinguisher and the fact that Barak had overstayed his six-month visa. Butbul also had no work permit.
But the quick appearance of four FBI agents made it clear this wasn't a normal stop. A box cutter was found in the truck.
"Then I disappeared," Barak said with a smile.
He would not be seen again for nearly two months. Barak and Butbul reappeared only a few days ago, aboard an El Al flight to Tel Aviv and home.
Barak was interrogated first as a possible terrorist, then as a potential spy. He said he did not see a lawyer for two weeks and never appeared before a judge. His parents did not know where he was for six weeks, until someone from the Israeli Consulate could sneak a cellphone into the prison.
"I'm a little bit angry," Barak said. "I understand what they were doing. But it took too long."
Sources : AMNOTES NET
Posté par Adriana Evangelizt